Kids Bowl Free review

Jessica asked about the kids bowl free program, so I thought I would break down our actual cost (because not much in life is truly free) and give my thoughts on the program.

Website:  http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/

Breakdown of costs:

• Kids bowl..............................FREE (of course)
• Parents bowl too pass............$12.50 (was $25 for up to 4 adults, split it with my sister)
• Family shoe pass...................$50.00
• Slushies (2x for 4 kids).........$16.00
• Pizza (1x)..............................$25.00

Total cost........................................$103.50

The bowling alley we went to was an hour away from our house, so there were significant driving costs, but I tried to do something else in the area on each trip...shop at BJ's, stop at a park on the way home, etc.  One week, we even planned the bowling trip right before we had to drop my sister and her family off at the airport.  We didn't go every week, but there were some weeks we went twice, so I will say we went bowling about 10 times. 

Per visit cost.....................................$10.35

Not bad for 4 kids and I, not bad at all!!!  If we had lived closer, I think we would have gone at least 2-3 times every week.  If I had not also bowled and we had no occasional treat (slushies or pizza), the cost would have been only $5.00 for 2 games each for 4 kids.

 On top of the minimal cost, it was great exercise in an air conditioned building and the kids had a blast.  A couple of them also learned how to deal with disappointment (aka...gutter balls!), which is a valuable life skill.  Noah improved from bowling about a 40 to an 80 and we are looking for a league for him to join!

Bottom line:  It wasn't totally free, but when you have 4 kids, you don't get much closer to free!  And it was fun!  We would definitely do it again!